'Lord of the Rings' heirs sue over copyright infringement
13th February 2008
The heirs of Lord of the Rings author, JRR Tolkien have prevented an attempt by another author, Michael W Perry, to put the Lord of the Rings trilogy into chronological order.
A district judge in the USA ordered a temporary ban on the publication, pending the resolution of a copyright-infringement lawsuit filed on behalf of the Tolkien estate.
Estate representative and executive vice president of Houghton Mifflin (Tolkien's US publisher) Wendy Strothman said Perry's book "amounts to a retelling of The Lord of the Rings in a different form ... If people want to read The Lord of the Rings, they should read the original."
The decision to take legal action was a result of the refusal by Mr Perry to provide a copy of the manuscript - Mr Perry had agreed to provide a copy if Tolkien's publisher, Houghton Mifflin signed a non-disclosure agreement, which it refused to do. Without the agreement, Mr Perry feared that somebody could steal his format
The work will now be viewed in its entirely by the lawyers of the Tolkien estate , who will then decide whether to press for a permanent ban on publication. The publishing house is not involved in the lawsuit.
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